LM1088 The Nutcracker

LM1088 The Nutcracker

LM, Episode 1088, (Rewrite Episode 23), 12/8/22, The Nutcracker

Our daughter-in-law, Kate, is a dancer and I’m ashamed to say that, even though my parents took me to play when I was a kid because I loved seeing live performances, I don’t remember seeing any ballet.  I was an adult the first time I saw the Christmas tradition, the Nutcracker.

One of my wife, Twyla’s, high school students was the Sugar Plum Fairy.  It has been so long ago that the student is now a dentist.

If memory serves me, Clara and her family receive a nutcracker for a present.  Her brother, Fritz, breaks the jaw trying to crack a large nut.  Clara bandages it up, then goes to sleep, dreaming an army of mice are attacking.  What she needs is my cat, Jerry.  Jerry loved killing all sorts of vermin in real life and he’d often be sleeping in my office while I worked.  All of a sudden his tail would start twitching, his claws would come out, and, when I’d awaken him, he seemed disappointed seeing me instead ot the mice in his dreams.

After the army of toys defeats the one of mice, Clara and the Nutcracker journey to the land of snow, then the land of sweets, which is, probably, where Twyla’s former student got the idea to be a dentist and seems proof positive that Clara should limit playing video games before going to sleep.  Clara awakes holding the Nutcracker.

If you have never seen the Nutcracker, I would encourage you to do so because my description doesn’t do it justice.  And if you’re in the Columbus area this weekend, be sure to see Kate in The Happy Elf at the Lincoln Theater and always remember laughter matters.